31. Describe Piaget's theory of intellectual development with special regard to he following: assimilation and accommodation, object concept in the sensorimotor stage, the symbolic function in the pre-opertational stage, conversation in the concrete operational stage, and the use of the hypothetical-deductive method in the formal operational stage.
Piaget explained how people adjust their schemas through assimilation and accommodation. Assimilation is interpreting new experiences in terms of existing schemas, or people interpret new experiences in terms of their current understandings. Accommodation is adapting current understandings or schemas to incorporate new information, or people adjust their schemas to incorporate new information provided by new experiences. Piaget theorized that children begin understanding the word at a young age, while they interpret it through four stages of cognitive development. The first stage is the Sensorimotor, which occurs form birth to two years of age. During tho stage the world is experiences though senses and actions, like looking, hearing, touching, mouthing and grasping. The second stage is the Preoperational, which occurs from two years of age to about six or seven years. During this stage things are represented with words and images, using intuitive rather than logical reasoning. The third stage is Concrete Operational, which occurs form about seven years of age to about eleven years. During this stage thinking logically about concrete events occurs, with grasping concrete analogies and performing arithmetical operations. The fourth and final stage is Formal Operational, which occurs from twelve years of age through adulthood. During this stage abstract reasoning takes place.
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This image shows the hypothetical-deductive method that is included in the Formal Operational stage of cognitive development. First a questions is asked, then form that question a hypothesis is formed, then the hypothesis is tested, and finally conclusions are drawn, or theories formulated.
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This image depicts Piaget's four stages of cognitive development. The first is the Sensorimotor stage, when children begin to interact with their environment. The second is the Preoperational stage, when children begin to represent the world symbolically. The fourth is the Concrete Operational Stage, when children learn rules such as conservation. The fourth in the Formal Operational Stage, when adolescents can transcend concrete situations and think about future events.
32. Describe the difference between sensation and perception.
Sensation is the process in which sensory receptors and nervous system receive and embody stimulus energies from the environment. Perception is the process in which organizing and interpreting sensory information takes place. This process enables the recognition of meaningful objects and events.
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This image tells that sensation is gathering information form the environment through the senses and perceptions is what is being sensed.
This explanation of the difference between sensation and perception shows that these two terms are related, but play different roles in the interpretation of the world. Sensation is the process of sensing the environment through tough, taste, sight, sound, and smell. While perception is the way that sensations are interpreted, making sense of the surrounding world.
33. Describe the role that expectation and motivation have in perception.
Perception is the the way sensations are interpreted, making "sense" of the surrounding world, enabling the recognition of meaningful objects and events. Expectation and motivation influence perception. People will almost always perceive what they are expecting. For example. hearing a sad song, rather than a happy one can cause a sad meaning to be perceived, such as the word morning perceived instead as mourning. Motivation makes desired objects seem closer and more within grasp, such as a water bottle when so mine is thirsty. Motives are directed also by perceptions of ambiguous images.
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I liked this image because its an optical illusion and it is hard to distinguish between the two objects. Is there 3 boards or is there 4?
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This image is from Bruner and Minturn's 1995 study on how expectation could influence a set by showing participants an ambiguous figure of 13 in the context of letters and numbers. The 13 is the same in every case but is perceived differently due to the influence of how it appears. The participants expected to see a letter in the context of other letters, and also expect to see numbers in a contact of numbers.
34. Summarize the Gestalt principles of perception.
Gestalt psychology is summarized up of a whole being different than the sum of it's parts. Psychologists of this area created a set of principles to sum up and explain perceptual organization, explaining how smaller items are grouped to form larger items. These principles are mental shortcuts for solving problems. The Principles include the following:
- The Law of Similarity, states that similar things appear to be grouped together and grouping can occur in both visual and auditory stimuli.
- The Law of Pragnanz, states that objects in the environment are seen in a way that makes them appear as simple as possible. This law is also sometimes referred to as the law of good figure or the law of simplicity.
- The Law of Proximity, states that things that are near one another appear to be grouped together.
- The Law of Continuity, states that points that are connected by straight or curving lines are seen in a way that follows the smoothest path. Instead of seeing separate lines and angles, lines are seen as belonging together.
- The Law of Closure, states that things are grouped together if they seem to complete an entity. The human brain oftentimes ignores contradictory information and fills in gaps in information.
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This image depicts the Laws of Perceptual Organization. The first is Proximity, when nearby objects are organized together. The second is Similarity, when objects that are similar in shaped are organized together. The third is Good Continuation, when lines are organized to minimize abrupt changes. The fourth is Closure, when lines are organized to create whole figures.
This article explains that the laws include the Law of Similarity, the Law of Pragnanz, the Law of Proximity, the Law of Continuity, and the Law of Closure.
35. Explain the processes of depth perception and size constancy.
Depth perception is the ability or process of judging the distance of objects, and also allows for the three dimensional vision. Objects first appear to the eye as 2-D images, but the human visual system has the ability to interpret stimuli in relative depth, so objects are instead seen as 3-D images. Size Constancy is the tendency to perceive an object as being the same size and dimension regardless of whether it is close or far away. Size constancy allows for the perception of the from of familiar objects as constant, although the eye receives changing images of the objects.
This image shows an example of how Depth Perception works. Interposition, which occurs in instances where one object overlaps the other, first occurs. This process of interposition causes people to perceive depth.
This website explains that size constancy is the process of perceiving an object as being the same size no matter what the distance is. The exmaple of the view of a city skyline is given.